Composition



Patented My invention relates t especially mold composi Among the objects cated in the porati 2,128Aitld COMPUSH'EEQN Norman .li. Dunbeck, Eitort, @hio, assignor to Eastern Clay Products, lino... lEii-ort, @hio, acoron of Ohio.

No Drawing. Application November '1, 1937,

Serial No. M2307 following claims.

7 Claims.

0 compositions of matter, tions for foundry use. of my invention are the As conducive to a. clearer understanding of certain features at this point practices, for

bonding clay mold. In a bonding of my invention, it

may be noted that in heretofore known foundry example, a certain amount of added to' silica sand in forming apreparing a mold, a small amount of clay is mixed into clean silica sand.

The sand is tempered with water to give a moist workable of burnt of the clean amount of clay, it decreases the mass. Wher sand is used as sand employed.

however, is" porosity of rosity or permeance is'essential to nation of fumes evolved from the metal with the mold walls.

The amount of bondin with a number of, factors.

require less is present in binder than coarse the used material.

amount of bonding clay employe of the mass of mold e desired, a. certain amount a substitute for a part presence of a large not desired because the mold.- This poa proper elimicontact of hot g clay employed varies Fine-grained sands sands. Sands d ranges from mixture.

-' clays are available 1 At the present time, a number of bonding clays are in use. The fire clays, clays largely comprising kaolinite, but also including montmorillonite and beidellite, probably are in greatest use. Certain of the non-refractory clays have found favor in some classes of work. These clays commonly are of the glacial age and predominate in minerals oi the sericite type. Certain Stratified clays of greater geological age also are included in this type. In these clays there is a large proportion of the mineral beidellite.

While both the refractory and non-refractory in numerous localities States, only a limited inof a mold accompanies their usage. Moreover, the quantity of these clays necessary to achieve asubstantial strength is inclined to severely curtail the permeance of the mold. Hence inusing these clays, a balance is struck between these factors, the finalresult achieved being entirely satisfactory from neither standpoint. I

The bentonite clays give a. desirable highperthroughout the United crease in the strength meability. Certain disadvantages are attendant Clays of this sort are State of .Wyoming and their usagexhowever. found principally in the largely consist of the mineral montmorilloniten a pattern. There is no assurance that the detail v of the pattern is followed by the mold;

The swelling property in wetting is accom panied by a shrinkage core butts, wedges and other refuse.

In spite of the advantage of high green strength and porosity obtainable in a mold using bentonite ,transporti the Wyoming bentonite are such as to largely restric'tits use in the eastern part of the country. It appears that the difierential in emcacy as a binder over the more readily available materials does not warrant the expense involved. I

One. of the objects of my invention, therefore,

- tertiary system and Cenozoic era.

is the provision of a mold composition which is inexpensive and readily obtainable in the East, which is easily'rammed about a pattern, which lends great green strength to a mold without an objectionably high dry strength, which in use mate'rially lessens the limiting effect on porosity encountered with heretofore known ingredients, which causes no objectionable contraction of the mold at high temperatures, and which does not greatly decrease the sintering point of the mold composition after use.

Referring now to the practice of my invention, I have found that a mold composition comprising silica sand and a non-swelling montmorillonite clay known as Porters Creek clay possesses many surprising characteristics as appears more fully hereinafter. It is to be noted at this point that the term non-swelling rillonite clays, has a definite significance to geologists, ceramic engineers, physicists and chemists. Now all clays are known to swell to some extent when placed in water. These are taken to be essentially non-swelling, however. A swelling clay is characterized by Wyoming bentonite. The distinguishing and'iden'tifying feature of Wyoming bentonite tremendous swelling which takes place on addition of water. Swelling bentonites will form a stiff gel with ten times their own weight of water.

These are considered to be swelling montmorillonite clays.

The non-swelling montmorillonite clays are those which may exhibit some slight swelling but not of the same order as the true swelling bentonites of Wyoming.

Porters Creek clay is found in the Mississippi Embayment area.

In the eastern embayment area the clay extends through Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi and Alabama, as shown in the geological chart appearing on page 30 of Bulletin No. 30 of the Mississippi Geological Survey. In the western embayment area it is found in Missouri, Arkansas and other States A description of the properties of the clay is found in Report of Investigations No. 26 of the IllinoisGeological Survey. The clay is discussed in various publications of the State Geological Surveys of Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee and Alabama. as well as Illinois and Mississippi as noted.

The chemical analysis. of a typical sample of Porters Creek clay, as taken from the Illinois Report, is as follows:

Per cent SiOz I I 55.42 A: 15.61 F8203 3.55 FeO a .20 MgO i- 1.46 CaO .94 N820 a Trace K20 1.41 H2O- 6.35 H2O+ 14.28 T102 .46. P205 .26

Total 99.94

At present the clay is being obtained in Southern Illinois! mineral montmorillonite. It is not colloidal, however, since it isseen readily to settle out of solution. It does not swell upon being added to water. Neither does. it shrink and crack upon drying. The clay, furthermore, is found to be as applied to montmo- I or montmorillonite is the It is of the Eocene series,

The clay largely consists of the non-plastic. While certain of these properties suggest the unfltness of the clay for foundry use, the exact opposite has been found by actual use. My composition, comprising silica sand and Porters Creek clay gives highly satisfactory re- 5 stituency. Water is then added in desired amount,

ordinarily about 3 by weight. The mixing 15 is continued, giving a uniform mix of desired strength. This mold mix is then used in preparing a sand mold in accordance with well known methods. It appears that upon the addition of water a slurry is formed whichcoats the individual 20 grains of sand. 1

The mold composition is easily handled. It isnot gummy or sticky. It flows freely. It is readily rammed about a pattern using a conventional jolt machine. The sand packsftightly about the pat- 5 tern. A smooth surface results accurately following the details of the pattern. The mold is strong and durable. It is well retained in the cope as it is lifted from the drag to remove the pattern. The mold from which the pattern is 30 withdrawn is clean-cut and free of edge breaks and cracks. A-minimum of repair to the mold before use, therefore, is required. .At the same time, however, the mold is porous and readily permeable to the fumes and gases encountered 35' in actual practical use.

My mold composition, in addition to .the novel properties noted 'above, is stron and well fitted for present-day mold requirements. Actual tests show an increase in strength .overheretofore-40 known mold compositions of some 75% to This is surprising indeed in view of.the nonplastic character of the clay itself as noted above.

A mold made with mycomposition is resistant to heat and the casting because of the high sintering temperature of 2600 F. as compared with2300 to 2400 F.

The formed casting, therefore, is free of fins, scabs, and like imperfections found in heretofore known products. Thedry strength is of moderate value 50 being only about 40% of amold using bentonite as a binder. For this-reason, the sand readily may be shaken out the flask and recovered for further use. Savings in cleaning the castings are directly realized. Sand in interior sections'collapses per- 55 mitting readycontraction of the metal in cooling and assuring freedom from cracking of the piece.

A-certain improved bonding strength with its many attendant advantages is had in my mold composition by including in the bonding ingredi- 0 cuts a certain small amount of a sodium salt, say about /2% to 8% and preferably about 3% or 4% of the bonding clay. Improved results are found with such sodium salts as sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate; sodium'silicate, ortho- 5 silicate and metasilicate; and the sodium phosphates, such as sodium pyrophosphate, disodium phosphate and trisodium phosphate, either in the crystalline or anhydrous form. Good results also are had with an addition of lye in the amount '70 of about 2% of the weight of the clay.

Thus, it will be seen that there has been provided in my invention a composition and art of employing the same in which the'va'rious' objects hereinbefore. noted together with many thorough- 75 burning on of sand particles to 1y practical advantages are successfully achieved. It will be seen that my bonding composition is well adapted to withstand the many varying conditions of actual operational use in many applications, particularly as a binder in sand mold compositions.

While as illustrative oi! the practice of my invention, description is made or a green sand mold, it is to be particularly understood that certain beneficial results are had in a dry sand mold. Also, it will be understood that the various ingredients going to make up the .mold composition may be mixed together in any desired sequences.

Similarly while the amount of clay, or bonding material, is'illustratively given as about 5% of the weight of sand with which it is mixed, it will be understood that good results are obtained when the amount of the bonding clay ranges from about 2% to 8% of thesand weight. In fact these pro portions can be extended to to 8% where a part of the sand consists of burnt sand since the bonding clay is reversible in character and can be used over again.

Although as illustrative of my invention a mold, comprising silica sand and Porters Creek clay is described, my invention is applicable to like combinations of sand arrd clay for other foundry uses. These include the preparation of facing sands which may consist of various combinations of new silica sand, burnt silica sand, new molding sand, burnt molding sand, lake sand or bank sand together with the bonding clay, to which may be added auxiliary binders in small .quantities, such as cereal binders, cement, goulac, pitch or rosin and a casting cleaning element such as sea coal, wood flour or oils. Foundry sand compositions, comprising known sands and Porters Creek clay are found to possess a certain superiorstrength as compared to known compositions. In these the Porters Creek clay is directly added to foundry sands of any type j of sodium carbonates,

which require strengthening by placing the necessary quantity of clay composition on each mold, by feeding it directly into sand handling systems, by spreading it over sand heaps or any other of the methods in common use.

As many possible embodiments may be made of my invention and as many changes may be made in the embodiments hereinbefore set forth, it isto be understood that all matter described herein is to be interpreted illustratively and not in a limiting sense.

I I claim:

1. In a composition or matter, a mold composition comprising in combination, sand and a non-swelling clay of which montmorillonite is a large constituent.

2. In a composition or matter, a mold composition comprising in combination, silica sand, and a non-swelling, non-plastic clay largely comprising montmorillonite.

3. In a composition of matter, a mold composition comprising in combination, sand,- and Porters Creek clay.

4. In a composition of matter, a mold composition comprising in combination, approximately,

per cent silica sand and 5 per cent Porters Creek clay.

5. In preparing a mold for foundry purposes. the art which includes mixing with silica sand, a non-swelling, non-plastic clay largely comprising montmorillonite.

6. In a composition oi. matter, a mold composition comprising in combination, sand, one of the group of sodium carbonates, sodium silicates and sodium phosphates, and Porters Creek clay.

7. In preparing a mold for foundry purposes, the art which includes mixing with silica sand, Porters Creek clay including per cent to 8 per cent by weight of clay of one or the group sodium silicates and sodium phosphates.

' NORMAN J. DUNBECK. 

